The mediation of foreign films for Swahili audiences is an established cultural and linguistic practice in Tanzania that combines translation with commentary and story-telling. It helps audiences make sense of films whose original language and cultural background are unfamiliar to them. Today, an industry has grown around translated foreign films of all genres and from all regions. The practice also makes genres accessible that are still under-represented in Tanzanian film production, such as science fiction. The genre’s depiction of a futuristic, technically advanced and strange world presents a challenge to commentators. Through the analysis of a particular episode of the Star Wars saga, I show how the commentator acts as an ethnodramaturg, who through translation, re-narration and intertextual reference explains and re-enacts the strange cultural universe of the source film and brings it closer to the audience.